Tag: West Virginia Mountaineers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Godding up coaches is a dangerous endeavor. They all have their human foibles and failures. At the high end of the profession, they’re paid millions of dollars to coach sports and win games. Those citizens of earth who are not interested in the perspiring arts think its silly that the Belichicks…

With the Big 12 season entering its final week of the regular season, let’s virtually raise a glass to some absent friends. While the last two months produced the same champion as the previous 13 years and the conference again earned hosannas for its competitive depth, there was plenty missing. Each of the 10 teams…

Jay Bilas is a former Duke player and assistant coach. He’s also a lawyer, which means there are three reasons to strongly dislike him. The ESPN college basketball analyst often has an “of course I’m right” smugness when weighing in on hoops issues. But you’ve gotta love a talking head who is outspoken when calling…

Big Monday's matchup between West Virginia and Oklahoma in Norman was a dream pairing in primetime on ESPN. West Virginia's uptempo defense and the cagy Jevon Carter squaring off against the nationally hyped Trae Young and the Sooners potent transition offense in their second regular-season meeting. After the Mountaineers humbled Young in Morgantown in early…

In the moments following West Virginia's win over Oklahoma in an excellent, Big 12 matchup with serious NCAA Tournament implications, I left my TV tuned to Sportscenter. ESPN's flagship show opened as it always does coming out of a game telecast, with a highlights package and recap of the contest. The roughly two-minute segment focused…

Forty years and 1,166 games as a basketball coach can extract a physical toll. As Indiana Jones said, it’s not the years, it’s the mileage. Bob Huggins’ odometer reading led to having right hip replacement surgery in the summer of 2014. It was not the health scare of 2002 when he nearly died from a…

We have reached the point of the Big 12 season where you must expect the unexpected but then you’re still surprised at the outcome. In truth, it happens every year when the calendar nears February. The league is as mysterious and hard to fathom as Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. Night to night, game to…

Two weeks from reaching the halfway point of Big 12 play and it’s clear that the competition is as serious as a heart attack. And the games might actually cause some angina. Going into Monday’s games, 15 of 25 Big 12 games had been decided by six or fewer points. Five games had gone overtime…

Four college basketball matchups on Saturday pit two Top 25 teams head-to-head. Of those four, three feature teams ranked No. 19 or better. Oh yeah, the road to March is intensifying. For several of the squads featured in this week's edition of the Saturday Six-Pack, the weekend presents an opportunity for redemption. TCU and Texas…

You assumed the end of the college football season meant no more Saturday Six-Pack? This marks the first weekend of January, and the march to March truly intensifies over the coming weeks now that basketball owns the sports spotlight. Conference play begins in earnest -- we'll just ignore the Big Ten tipping off more than…

Explaining the DNA of West Virginia guard Jevon Carter requires a clip of Sean Connery from “The Untouchables” growling, “That’s the Chicago way.” Carter played high school ball at Proviso East in Maywood, Ill., a suburb of the Windy City. The school has produced players like Doc Rivers, Michael Finley, Jacob Pullen, Shannon Brown and…

Welcome, boys and ghouls, and be not afraid of this spooky edition of The Open Man Saturday Six-Pack. If you hear a bump this college football Saturday, it's only the zombies of College Football Playoff hopefuls past lurking through the gridiron graveyard. USC? Done in by a devious leprechaun. Auburn? Cannibalized by another couple of…

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two days prior to Tuesday’s Big 12 media day, the Sprint Center hosted the Battle for Relief, a charity exhibition game that had Kansas and Missouri meeting on the court for the first time since 2012. The game drew a sold-out crowd and raised $1.75 million. But hopes for a resumption…

According to Spiderman’s Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility. Forgive Iowa State fans if their Spidey senses are tingling because of a similar phrase: With more victories comes the chance of losing our coach. ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit – who, thanks to his platform, has great power – Tweeted this after…

Those few hardy souls who are addicted to every recruiting story are familiar with the back story of West Virginia’s David Sills V. The vast majority of fans who are only aware of the here and now might know that Sims leads FBS in touchdown catches with 12. His back story, known to those hardy…